The cruelest dream, reality
by Autumn Ice
Summary: “That is why I fought, too, at the beginning. I believed that the wars could be won through visions of peace. I fought so that I could bring justice to the world, and avenge all the victims.” Usagi meets the GundamPilots, far in the future.
1. In the end, it doesn't even matter

**Gomen!  I'm so sorry it took so long to get this out, but I had a major lack of inspiration.  Usagi's kind of odd, as she is dealing with centuries of memories, and little quirks/abilities she received from her friends as they passed on.  So the clairvoyance bit is really Minako's, the water thing is Ami/Michiru's, and so on.  Just so you know, the extent of my cohesive Gundam Wing knowledge is limited to the first manga, the mixed up various episodes I have watched, and repetitive viewings of Endless Waltz.  Obviously, this is going to be an A/U for GW, but for Sailor Moon, it is merely how I envisioned the very far future.  I don't really know the storyline very well, so it will be odd.**

**  
**Duo tuned out Wufei's lecture.  He'd heard it so many times already, he could have rattled it off word perfect.  _But I still don't like the braided baka part,_ he thought glumly.  Why was he the one Wufei picked on?  _Maybe it is your practical jokes that always seem to target him?_ a woman's voice whispered in his mind.

The braided soldier yelped, and fell right out of his chair, earning him questioning glances from the other pilots.  He picked himself up, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.  But as he settled himself down, he glanced around discreetly, looking for the source of the voice.  Or was he going crazy?  But he heard the voice again, this time laughing.

_You are not crazy, 02._  This time he stared around the room, not bothering to hide it.  "Hey guys, did you hear that?" he asked nervously.  He received only cold stares.  _Um, this is really creeping me out now..._ Duo's mind was panicking.

_Calm yourself!  For a soldier, you are incredibly excitable._  The woman's voice soothed him, and he calmed, not really knowing why.  He left the room to find somewhere secluded, and to get away from Wufei's lecture.  _And the voice._

He went into the garden behind the house that was surrounded by a high wall.  He had always felt safe there, with no audible noise from civilization.

"I agree," a woman's musical voice said.  Duo turned towards the sound to finally see the person whom it belonged to.  It was the girl he had seen last night, and he started to panic, worrying about the safety of the Gundam pilots' location.  She sat on the ground as she stared at the plants as if she had never seen them before.  She gave a sense of innocence that seemed impossible to fake, impossible to hide or replicate (_eventually be a memory..._).  He had been about to ask one of the many questions running through his mind when another voice spoke first.

"Duo, who is that?"  Duo turned towards the house to see Hiiro standing with his gun pointed directly at the girl.

"I really—" he was cut off by the girl.

"I'm just a curious civilian(_soldier_).  After all, after seeing a huge hunk of oddly shaped metal come out of a lake, I'm bound to have questions, hai?"  The girl stood, and smiled, apparently not worried in the least that she could be dead at any moment.  But when Hiiro clicked the safety off his gun, her smile paled a bit, and she continued. "But maybe that's not a very good thing?" she asked meekly.  Her wide bleu eyes were a contradiction however.  They almost begged the Perfect Soldier to shoot, though not in a daring way.  It was almost... wishful(_death, come to me_).

Duo smirked, but kept an eye on Hiiro.  The man's homicidal tendencies were well known to Shinigami, and he didn't want any 'innocent civilians' getting hurt.

"Shinigami?" the girl asked, her expression clearly shocked.  "How so?"  _Hmm, maybe because of his piloting duties?_

Duo yelped, and began backing away from the blond_(royal-silver)_ haired, bleu eyed girl, quickly forgetting his resolution.  "Um, I don't know where you got that from, but I suggest you forget it."

Hiiro didn't bother to be so nice.  "Omae o korosu," he said, and pulled the trigger.

The girl swore fluently as she watched in horror(_elation_) as the man shot her.  She couldn't move any more then a few inches, not nearly far enough to escape the bullet completely, not even with her years(_eternities_) of senshi training.  She watched in shock at the gaping wound in her shoulder as it bled profusely(_royal-red blood_), not even noticing what the men were doing.

"What the hell was that for?" Duo screamed, ready to launch himself at the Perfect Soldier.

All he got was an emotionless, "She shouldn't know so much, then."

You kept everything inside and even though I tried  
It all fell apart  
What it meant to me  
will eventually be a memory  
of a time when I  
Tried so hard  
And got so far  
But in the end  
It doesn't even matter  
I had to fall   
And lose it all  
But in the end   
It doesn't even matter  
  


"Dammit, Hiiro, that doesn't mean you can go shooting anyone who says the wrong thing!" he exclaimed, and moved to the girl, forgetting his earlier uneasiness with her.

She was attempting to stop the bleeding with only her hand, putting pressure on it.  _Why bother?_ She wondered.  When Duo pulled her hand away, hankercheif in hand to tie it up, the wound was already closing.  _Shiiitt,_ she thought, and backed away from him.  _You didn't just see that,_ she whispered into his mind, and willed him to forget.  She hoped it would work, but since telepathy(_mind control, how often did she use it on me?)_ was more Rei's(_fire-passion_) area of expertise, she could never be certain what would happen.  But he turned his head away, eyes glassy.

Unfortunately, Hiiro had also seen.  But he made no comment, though he kept his gun on her.  He questioned the effectiveness of it, but long training(_torture,_ someone whispered) kept his hand trained on her.

Eyes watching Hiiro like a hawk, Usagi whispered to Duo.  "Shinigami are you?  Tell me, why do you deserve that title?"

Violet eyes wide, Duo stilled, and his eyes cleared.  _That was weird..._  "Because I am.  I am the god of death."  His voice was almost strangled, as if he didn't like it all too much.  _I kill every one around me._

Angry, but not saying why, Usagi pulled away.  "Fine." She paused, "Why don't we try this again."  She bowed formally, to both Hiiro and Duo.  "Konnichiwa! Watashi no namae Tsukino Usagi." (_I tried so hard)_

She received a half-hearted grunt from Hiiro, but Duo replied much more enthusiastically.  "I'm Duo Maxwell.  He is Yui Hiiro, the Perfect Soldier."  He imitated her, obviously not knowing why.  _And so he shouldn't.  That tradition died out how long ago?_

_(And got so far) Too long for either of them to remember_.  Usagi suppressed those half-remembered memories.  _That's the problem__ with living so many lives, and remembering them to boot.  You only know a little, and it gets confused with everything else_.  When neither of them moved, she snapped "Well, aren't you going to invite me in?"

But Duo only gave her a cocky grin, and asked, "Why should we?"  Usagi resisted the urge to slap him senseless.  That smirk was asking for it.

"Maybe because I am curious, and I will go in no matter what."  She strode forward, completely ignoring Duo's stuttered protests.  She moved to go around Hiiro.  But she stopped at yet another voice. _(But in the end it doesn't even matter)_

"What is going on?" a curiously gentle voice asked.  Usagi peered around the unmoving Perfect Soldier to see a blonde boy standing in the entrance to the gardens.  His big bleu eyes immediately told Usagi all about his nature, and she winced in sympathy at the sorrows that were held within them.  "Why are you pointing a gun at this girl?"

Hiiro glared at Quatre, as he turned around.  "I don't know.  But she is an intruder."  The emotionless soldier stalked back inside the mansion, leaving behind a gaping Duo, and a confused Quatre. _(And lose it all)_

"I am truly sorry for Hiiro's manners.  May I offer you hospitality, to make up for it?" Quatre asked politely, still slightly bewildered by Hiiro's odd actions(_reactions_).  That was the most the cold boy had ever said about anything not pertaining to a mission.

When the girl smiled, he smiled in return.  "I am Quatre Winner.  It is a pleasure to meet you..." he trailed off, not knowing her name. _(You kept everything inside)_

"Tsukino Usagi," she supplied with another grin.  "Or Usagi Tsukino, I suppose.  Or Usa-chan."

Quatre beckoned her inside, saying something to the effect of tea, and Usagi followed, leaving Duo to follow in their wake, dumbfounded.

"Who is she?" an indignant voice cried as she entered behind Quatre, to see two other boys(_men, they are too old in soul for children_) sitting at their ease in the living room.  She matched the voice to a male of obvious Asian descant, dark hair pulled back in a tight tail, and black eyes seemingly permanently slanted in annoyance.

"Wufei, Trowa, I would like you to meet Usagi Tsukino.  Usagi, this is Chang Wufei, and Trowa Barton."  Quatre watched her intently, still searching for clues as to what this girl was doing in his garden in the first place.

Usagi turned from her contemplation of Trowa and Wufei, and said "Do not worry, gentle one, I will not endanger you.  Oz cannot follow me."

Usagi settled down into the soft couch, seemingly oblivious to the shocked reactions the men were having.  She shifted her bag to the side, to avoid sitting on it, and made herself comfortable.  Finally, after hearing nothing, she glanced up.  "What is the matter?" she asked worriedly.

Quatre gathered enough of his wits to reply.  "No- nothing," he stuttered, knowing that he should be wary of this girl, but his heart forced him to accept her, to adore her.  _That_ should have made him suspicious, any way, but he suppressed it.  Instead, he contemplated this girl, who seemed to more then a girl in the way that he and his friends were more then just boys.  Her eyes haunted him, and he turned his gaze to her physique.  Her long silver hair was pulled back into a braid much like Duo's, but it was at least two feet longer then Duo's.

Trowa remained silent, but his gaze was hard.  He did not know what this girl was, but she was a threat, if she knew that Oz was after them.  He didn't take kindly to threats, especially if they involved Quatre.

WuFei muttered darkly, wondering why Yui hadn't killed her yet.  Obviously, the trigger happy Perfect Soldier already knew that this girl was here, being the fanatical safety freak he was.  That left why she was still alive, and WuFei hated not knowing.  He was not unaffected by the simple presence she had, and he wondered if maybe even the emotionless Perfect Soldier had felt the purity she exuded.  Normally the Asian boy was not one to notice or care about such _things(weak)_, but the pure strength of it was impossible to miss.

Duo was still in the same position he had been in, when he had skidded to an abrupt stop at her words.  The way she seemed to answer thoughts reminded her of Quatre's peculiar affinity for matters of the heart.  He also wondered at her effect on Hiiro.  In the months that Duo ha d known the other soldier, Hiiro had never once backed down, unless it concerned Ririna.

Usagi finally gave up waiting for them to speak.  She had patience, but didn't bother to use it(_Rei always thought so_).  "Why do you all fight?" she asked bluntly.

Again, she received shocked stares from the four boys(_men, her mind insisted_).  Or, at least, she received three shocked stares and the feeling of surprise from the fourth.

"We fight for peace, and justice.  I fight for revenge."  Surprisingly(_or not_) it was WuFei who spoke up.  "Why have you come here?" he asked, glaring at her.

She smiled.  "Because I had nothing better to do, and I was curious," she paused.  She seemed so relaxed, but her whole body was tense in anger.  _How can war do this to five innocent humans?  Why do they do this to themselves._  She gazed at them with pity clear in her eyes.  Her entire tone changed, to one completely opposite her previous cheerful tone.  "That is why I fought, too, at the beginning.  I believed that the wars could be won through visions of peace.  I fought so that I could bring justice to the world, and avenge all the victims."  Her gaze fell, so that she was gazing at a spot in the floor, hiding her eyes, and the anger within them.  "But then, it changed.  After awhile, I began fight because it was all I knew, all that I could do, and do _well_.  I lost my ability to do anything but fight."  She looked back up, this time searching for the emotionless eyes of one Hiiro Yui, who had entered the room long before, without anyone knowing, until just now.  "Keep your dreams of peace, and find them, for all the lost souls that had been destroyed."  Oddly enough, at least to the five boys, she spoke in the past tense.

**The song is In the end, by Linkin Park, one of my favorite bands.  It does not belong to me.  The reason it took so long to get out is because I could not find a song, nor the time to write.  Please review!  And yes, I have never studied English grammar that thoroughly, so if there is a fancy name for tenses and such, I don't know it in English.  Please forgive me. *****ß note the sarcasm*  
I am debating leaving it here, and letting you choose however you want it to end.  It is up to you, readers.  If you want me to continue, tell me, or if someone else wants to continue this, let me know.  
And finally, yes, there are supposed to be hints of 3+4, and 1+2, but I don't think it worked very well.  Ah well.**


	2. Fragile lives shattered dreams

**The cruelest dream, reality**

**Summary: Usagi dreams of her time as a blissfully innocent teenager, and rages against fate for taking it away.  She wants out(**_death- come to me_**), but struggles deal with the fact that there is no way out, because there is nowhere else to go(**_no death_**).  Of course, something(**_someone_**) comes and changes everything.  _No_ Mamoru-baka, or senshis in this fic, Deal with it.**

Tsukino Usagi chucked a rock into the still lake, using her anger to throw it farther then normal.  She was seventeen, but already she had decided that she was tired of life.  Too much had happened in the last three years of her life.  Perhaps it was longer, since she had gone forward and backward in time enough to confuse even Mizuno Ami, genius of Juuban High.  Either way, the thought of death was one she had contemplated for months(_lifetimes_) now.

_It's __prom night.  So many would ask why I am here, instead of socializing like the ditz I am believed to be._  She laughed at herself, at her friends, and at fate who decided that she should be this way.  She threw another rock at the water, wishing she could throw away her anger and frustration as easily as that.  She had over a thousand(_eternal_) years of emotion to vent, and there was no force on earth that would equal that.

_Dammit, I didn't want this!_ She thought, staring at the glowing rock beside her.  She refused to call it anything remotely complimenting.  It was an inanimate object, but she didn't care.  She still hated it with all the passion she could muster.  If only there was some way of destroying it...(_without destroying myself_)

She threw another rock, wishing that it was the glowing one beside her.  But, unfortunately, that wouldn't solve anything, and the damned thing would only come back to her.  _You know, _she thought at the glowing rock, _before I ever knew about you, all I had to think about was school, eating, and video games.  No saving the world crap like nowadays.  No wars.  Damn, I feel so old._

She grimaced.  She was old, she just didn't look it.  Oh, how she would laugh to see the look on her parent's faces if she were to tell them that their daughter was actually a princess from a legendary kingdom from a thousand years in the past.  What a laugh that would get, but she no longer laughed at all.

Again, she cursed fate and destiny as she threw another stone into the lake.  Why was she unable to break the hold of fate, when the rest of her former friends had?  Why had her prince managed to escape the hold of destiny, into the relief of death, when she was forced to remain in this life, this planet?  She railed silently at all the Gods she could name, and at a few she could not.  Her friends had followed her former love into death.  She longed for death, but not the death that awaited her.

She was cursed with the dream of madmen.  She was cursed with a dream of kings, emperors, a dream that she had never had.  A dream she called a nightmare.  She was cursed with eternal life, only an endless cycle of rebirth and reincarnation.  _Some life.  All I do is die, or get in the way of some psyco who only wants to get this stupid rock or take over the universe, or all freakin' three._

Her first friend among the senshis, Mizuno Ami, had passed on two months ago, when she had gotten in the way of a stray bullet from an Oz soldier.  Mako-chan had died fighting against her captors, and though Usagi knew no more, she had felt the tall Amazon's death clearly, and painfully.  Her best friend among any of the senshis, Hino Rei, had died over two years ago, trapped in her own shrine as it burned down.  The last of her inner senshis had died last week, as she fought to stay with her husband as he was taken away by soldiers.  She had been shot in the head, and her body left to rot.  Usagi had been the one to find her, moments before the beautiful soldier of love had passed on.  Aino Minako had only looked into Usagi's too old eyes, and said "This is it for us, Usa-chan.  We are not coming again..."

There was only one interpretation of that remark, and Usagi knew it all too well.  _At least I know that I will be alone, rather then wandering around my entire life(_lives_) searching for people who will never again be alive._

nothing's free  
longing for what used to be  
still it's hard  
hard to see  
fragile lives  
shattered dreams

Even Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru and Setsuna are gone.  _I didn't believe that they would ever concern themselves enough with Earth to ever be caught in it's wars.  But this war is not like the others_, a voice whispered in her head.  _This one has ruined what the mortals had built for themselves without our help.  Perhaps Galaxia-chan had the right of it, however many years ago it has been.  Maybe humans are a mistake._  But somehow, she couldn't believe that.  After all the dimensions, galaxies and dreams she had traveled, she found it difficult to believe that humans were not worthy of life.  They had surmounted so much, (and no matter to the fact that they had set up most of it themselves) that maybe they as much right as the senshis to life, or other life forms.

_Ironic how it's the Sailor Senshis that are dieing, and there are far less of us,_ she thought sardonically.  She had lost contact with Galaxia in this life, and she supposed this reality was too far from Galaxia's home system.

She was pulled out of her thoughts as she heard a noise coming from the bushes behind her.  She turned her head slowly, to see a boy her age burst out of the bushes as if the hounds of mortal hell were after him.  She laughed inwardly at the expression, knowing there was no such thing for her, no hell _or_ heaven.  She also wondered curiously why this boy wasn't at the prom, seeing as he wore the same uniform she did.

The boy had a long chestnut braid that swung madly behind him, and intense purple eyes that made her think of Hotaru, the beautiful soldier of Death.  He was no taller then she, and he stopped abruptly when he saw her.  He evidently wasn't expecting anyone to be there, but he threw a nervous glance behind him into the trees and bushes that surround the lake.  He must have heard something, because he grimaced.

"I do not know what you are doing here, but you must leave now.  Come with me, I will keep you safe."  He said no more, but he grabbed her hand, pulling her upright quickly.  He pulled her with him as he dove off the edge of her vantage point, down towards the water.

Usagi wondered at his audacity.  How could he possibly think that he could do that to a complete stranger?  She had opened her mouth to say something, but received a glare from the boy- a young man, really, his eyes were too old for a seventeen year old- as if he had sensed she had been about to speak.  They landed in a bush near the edge of the water, and he quickly rolled her under it, with him.

"Don't say a word," he whispered tersely.  Usagi saw no harm in not complying, and so turned her attention to her bare arms.  She had only been wearing her school uniform, whose short sleeves were only a light cotton fabric.  The scrapes on her arms were lightly bleeding dark red blood, a few shades too dark to be human.  As she watched, the cuts closed, and she brushed off the now-dried blood.  The man who had grabbed her was also watching her, and she groaned to wonder what he was now thinking.  But he said nothing, so she turned her face away, gazing again at the lake.

When they heard a gun shot ring through the woods above them, Usagi ignored his order and said, quietly still, "Oz no senshi ka?" [_An Oz soldier?_]

She received a glare from the boy/man that reminded Usagi of Rei-chan at her worst.  It also reminded her of Mamoru-baka at the last time she had seen him.  "Takusan no senshi" [_Many soldiers_] he whispered shortly, and she got the idea that she had better shut her mouth.

She stayed silent, but not idle.  She reached out with her mind, searching for those who were hunting the man.  She found them, and allowed herself to be shocked.  There was nearly an entire army after this man!  She wondered if he knew there were so many, but decided against saying anything.

She continued to 'watch' the Oz soldiers, until they were out of hearing range.  She told the man that, and he nodded slowly, but she could see that he did not trust her.  _What could possibly have happened to this boy to turn him so suspicious?(Still it's hard| hard to see| fragile lives | shattered dreams)  I may not be human but I do look it._  He stood up slowly, drawing away from the bush.  Suddenly, he dived into the lake, surprising Usagi.

She watched him swim away, until the murky waters hid him.  _If he was so eager to get away, why didn't he say so?_ She wondered.  She decided to follow him, just for the fun of it.

She stepped out onto the lake, wandering off in the direction the braided boy had gone.  She hoped that no one was around, because though she didn't particularly care what the humans thought of her, awkward questions would be asked if they saw a woman walking on water.

_He went... thataway,_ she thought, turning west into the setting sun.  The glorious light of the burning star blinded her for a moment, but she closed her eyes and continued on.  _Why the hell am I doing this, again?_ she asked herself.  _I must be going soft.  Rei would laugh her ass off to hear that. (Longing for what used to be)_

Something splashed her, forcing her to open her eyes once more.  She blinked long eyelashes, then widened her eyes in shock as a large _thing _flew away right before her eyes.  Her quick glimpse showed only gleaming metal, that looked slightly... humanoid.  (_Now I can go crazy)_ _I've seen a flying machine with a glowing scythe in its hand.  Yup, definitely time to go insane._  If she didn't already know it was technically impossible for that to happen to her, she would have believed it.

_Perhaps something to do with the young man I was chasing?_ she asked herself curiously.  There was no sign beneath the water that the braided man was still there, and the water sprites said no more about the intruder.  _It really is shame I don't have Ami-chan's ability with the water creatures_.

She returned back to shore, and to her previous spot.  But when she had gotten comfortable again, she realized that she could no longer concentrate on her thoughts.  _Just great.  And the godsdamned rock is still here_.

Usagi sighed as she rubbed her temples, and returned her gaze to the computer screen.  The laptop had been one of her few indulgements to technology in her small apartment, as she had no real need to eat, or have heat.  She wondered how she had changed so much from the ditz who had been stuffing her face at every opportunity.  _Perhaps I grew up?_ she thought wryly, knowing it was the answer.

She surfed around, searching for recent news.  She rarely paid any attention to the news broadcasts, at least not since the blonde ditz claiming to be the lost Peacecraft princess had begun to take over the screens.  Usagi knew that peace and pacifism was a foolish dream for fools, and did not consider herself to be a fool.  

Her attention caught on an article describing something called Gundams.  _Gundams...  I've heard that before.  Something from a careless Oz soldier?_  She browsed the article, and any others pertaining to the Gundams curiously.  She found a few blurry photos of them, and smiled when she recognized them.  _That's definitely what I saw._

But there was disconcerting trend to all of the articles.  Oz had control over the news network, and the underlying message to any news reports on the Gundams or their pilots(_Pilots?_) was that they should be captured at any cost.  _Maybe Oz has a little extra information then?_  Usagi smiled wickedly, and accessed the main Oz website.  She explored it, before realizing what she wanted wasn't there.

But Usagi didn't learn nothing from all the hours she had spent on the thing.  She carefully hacked into the Oz database, and pulled up the files on the Gundams.  There were five, but she already knew that.  Apparently numbered that way, as well.  _Either someone was really unoriginal when they named these five, or Oz doesn't know their real names. (Nothing's free)_  There was barely more information on the Gundams themselves, but seeing as they were large bodies of metal she was not too surprised.

But her interest did light up as she read the file on 02.  Piloting the Gundam that looked exactly like the one she had seen, briefly, his physical description suited him exactly as well.  _Curious.  So maybe he did have reason to have an entire army on his heels.  I wonder what he did?_ (_If he lives?)(Shattered dreams)_

After reading the rest of the files, she shut down her computer, double-checking to make sure her little activity hadn't been noticed.  That had only happened once, and she had never left anything unchecked now.  She would go search for 02 tomorrow.  Oz had only a general idea where the five pilots were holed up, but she would be able to find them using a better sort of radar.  _Nothing beats magic, not even fancy technology_.  She smirked.  That boy-young man- would regret pulling her off a cliff, not matter how small.  After all, the Queen of the Moon(_Selenity-mama_) and the entire Sol solar system deserved a bit more courtesy then that.

**Yes I know that was beyond freakishly weird.  Blame it on inspiration, and listening to my brothers music through two floors and a whole lot of rooms.  Meh.  There is not much plot going for this, but I do have an idea.  Any helpful hints would be helpful, however.  Please read + review.  Should I continue (sequel?)**


	3. Good Riddance

**I am back!  Didn't think I would, didya?**

**Chapter III (something like that): Good Riddance**

Usagi woke to find the large house empty, the only sounds being the haunting memories that played for her.  She wandered around the house, touching and exploring it all.  When she finally found the dining room, there was a note tacked to the table.

            "_Good-bye, Usagi.  As you are a danger to our mission, we have left.  Do not follow us"_

It was not signed, though Usagi could not expect any less.  She had had a brief glimpse into the minds of the Gundam Pilots yesterday, and what she had seen suggested nothing to the contrary.  She debated for a moment who had written it, but dismissed it as meaningless.

The night before, the pilots had graciously allowed her the use of a room.  Although, that may have been due to Usagi's refusal to leave.  She had made her wish to stay with these five men very clear, even though she had received many death threats and angry glares.

She picked up the note, absently stuffing it into her still active sub-space pocket thing.  _A gift from Setsuna-san,_ she thought, the memory bittersweet(_time grabs you by the wrist)_.  She still had many belongings of her warriors around, but she was far too sentimental to get rid of them.  _Even Ami-chan's old computer, the one she was always using to save our pathetic asses._

Usagi wondered where her newest curiosity could have gone.  Her views on life had changed over the years, most noticibly after Crystal Tokyo had crumbled, and she had remained, watching it all through the grey-bleu eyes of an immortal.  (_I hope you had the time of your life)_

She entered the kitchen, searching for door out of the place.  She guessed that if she could get out to where she access open air, she would be able to find her quarry. The wind would tell her where the Gundams were.  Hopefully, where the giant mechas were, the pilots would follow.

There was no one around to see the faint image of a tall male figure with constantly wind blown hair standing behind Usagi as she cast her call into the obliging winds.  When her answered came, she was puzzled when she found that they were locked in a werehouse nearly a thousand kilometers away.  _How did they get them over there so fast?_ She wondered, until she realized that there were only four in the werehouse.  _Alright, that answers the question of how it got there so fast; it didn't.  but why would these men leave them unattended?  It does not compute with what I have seen so far of them.  Curious._

Of course, Usagi being who she was, she just had to follow her curiousity.  It was a quirk of her nature.  _As Minako-chan once tried to say, curiousity killed the cat but it worked for everyone else.  And, since Luna is not around to caution against it, it isn't going to kill me(_still frames in your mind)_.  Right._  Usagi shook her, realizing that a great many quotes she had picked up couldn't really apply to her, seeing as she didn't die and all.  She shrugged, having gone over many things with herself before, and let it go.  When you live long enough, talking to yourself doesn't seem so bad anymore.

She started in the direction she sensed the Gundams, figuring the pilots would head there eventually.

"Just you wait, Duo-tachi, I will catch up with you.  You cannot get rid of me so easily," she whispered to the wind, as she took off after them, great white wings unfurled to their full glory. (_in the end is right)_

_Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road_

_Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go_

_So make the best of this test, and don't ask why_

_It's not a question but an answer learned in time_

"Are you sure that was a good idea, leaving Usagi behind like that?" Duo asked Hiiro as he flew overtop of the other four pilots who were currently on their way to a secure airport.

"Does it matter?" was the only reply the long-haired pilot received.

"We've got to work on his people skills," Duo muttered.

_It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right_

_I hope you had the time of your life_

**Uhm, that was short.  And awkward.  Oh well.  This fic will be updated erratically, die to the unplanned nature of it.  FYI, the suffix –tachi means sort of 'and group'.  So in this context, Duo-tachi means Duo and group.  Right, and the song is Good Riddance (Time of your Life) by Green Day.  It doesn't belong to me.  Oh, (this is getting repetitive, all these things I'm adding) the 'male' figure obviously isn't male, but an outsider to the senshis wouldn't know that.  
R +R please.**

**On one last note:  Let us remember those who died for our country.  Let us bow our heads in remembrance for the brave Canadians (those in other countries as well) who gave their lives so that we can live ours in peace.  And let us hold onto that peace with care.**


	4. Shell forgotten with its memories

**Chapter Four: Shell forgotten; With its memories.  New chapter- sorry it took so long.  I'm not very good at consistently updating, now am I?  Sawry.  Song this time's Bother by Stone Sour.  Great song.  Really, it is.**

            Usagi hummed to herself as she flew over peaceful waters.  She didn't much care about being seen; though she had received some odd looks from the cruise ship she had passed a couple of hours ago.  Apparently, ordinary humans were not used to flying people, even with the wars.  _What is the difference between flying robots and flying humans?_

            Humans confused her.  She had once lived- and thrived- among them, but now, centuries later, they only served to amazed her.  The advances they had made, through society and technology, were offset by the growing number of humans, and all the complications that such large numbers entailed.  The wars had reshaped humans, and she suspected that only one who had seen the differences evolve who connect the two very different parts of history.

            But, of course, some things would always remain the same.  Take animals, for example.  Usagi drifted closer to the water, dipping her hand in the cool liquid.  Dolphins tried to keep up with this new curiosity, and she slowed down to watch them.  _They are just like children,_ she thought with a smile.  She hadn't been around children for a long time, she reflected.  _But after Chibi-usa's death, the idea of more children soured.  After her daughter died, a lot of things had soured.  Especially humans._

Usagi remembered that day very well.  Chibi-Usa had been ready to take the throne of the Earth and Moon, ready to take over her mother's duties.  But even as the crown was laid on her head, snipers had filled the beautiful hall that served for a throne room with deadly arrows.  Usagi's senshi had been unharmed, but Chibi-Usa's four protectors, the Amazon Quartet, had been unable to avoid them.  They had died ringed around Chibi-Usa, but still more arrows had come.  (_Wish I was too dead to cry)_

            "Enough," Usagi told herself.  She would not wallow in the past, not now.  She had something that was far more interesting to occupy her now.  (_but once I hold on; I won't let go 'til it bleeds)_

            It appeared that the Earth had produced modern versions of the legendary senshis to protect itself.

            _An interesting thought._

            "Does anyone else feel a sense of déja vu?" Duo asked, as he flopped down on a conveniently placed bed.  They had another mission, and once again it seemed to involve staying at a school.

            Hiiro and Trowa merely ignored his question; Wufei shook his head and muttered a quiet "baka"; and Quatre smiled.  "Yes, it seems that the doctors enjoy sending us to school," the blonde replied, going to one of the rooms, and dropping off what little luggage he had.

            Hiiro went to the desk in his and Duo's room, and logged on to his e-mails.  He read it silently, then logged onto the school's network, and registered the five gundam pilots, without bothering the school's administrative staff, of course.  He printed their schedules, and shut down the laptop.

            He handed them out, still ignoring Duo's complaints.  "We start here tomorrow.  The base is close by, but we wait for more instructions."

            Duo sighed.  "At least the crazy stalker isn't here," he muttered.  Inwardly, Hiiro agreed.  Ririna Peacecraft had a habit of following him, and he truly would have felt sorry if he were forced to kill her.  The world's advocate for peace was somewhat important.

            The next morning, after Duo had been roused from bed by a reluctant Wufei (who had gotten pelted in the head with an innocent alarm clock), the five started classes.  As innocent as that seemed, things have a tendency to pop up just when most inconvenient.  Murphy's Law has a wonderful time with the five young men.  A _truly_ wonderful time.

_And you don't need to bother;_

_ I don't need to be_

_ I'll keep slipping farther_

_ But once I hold on,_

_I won't let go 'til it bleeds_

            Usagi growled as she stood before an empty warehouse.  She had taken her time getting to it, figuring that she would still beat the five to their gundams, but apparently they had had a longer head start then she had known.  There was no trace that anything other then piles of wood had ever been stored here.  She contemplated the chance that she had gone to the wrong site, but she didn't think so.  She moved away from the buildings, still slightly angry at this turn of events.  These men were better at evasion then she been led to believe.

            Once again she called to the spirits of the air, and once again the image of a man could be seen faintly.  They showed where the metal gundams were, tracking the feel of dark metal.  Why the spirits called the metal dark, Usagi could only guess.

            Large wings grew from her back, and she continued on her self-imposed quest, though now she was slightly less, ah, cheerful about it.  _(I wish I had a reason)_

            Usagi finally tracked down her quarry, not far from where the five gundams were now being hid.  The (surprise, surprise) warehouse was abandoned, and not far from a boarding school.  Deciding that using magic now would cause more annoyances then shortcuts, she decided to just try searching manually.  (_I'll keep slipping farther) _Her guesswork had improved quite a bit since she had first taken the mantle of Sailor Moon (the centuries she'd had to practice hadn't hurt, either).

            The receptionist was quite friendly to Usagi, and told her that five boys did, indeed, just enroll in the whitewall Academy of Learning.  The nice woman gave Usagi their room number and class schedules.  _Very helpful.  Just not for these men, is all,_ she thought to herself, highly amused.

            Usagi let herself in, not wanting to trouble them with knocking.  She came in just as a familiar voice whined "Who cares about history?  I don't want to study myths!" in a very loud voice.

            "Shut-up, baka!" an irritated voice yelled at Duo, "Some of us are actually doing the work, you know!"

            "So what, Wufie?  It's not as if our marks actually count.  We will be gone long before a test or exam."

            "That does not excuse you from it!  It is required, so do it and shut-up, damnit!"  Wufei must have been exceedingly fed up with Duo by now, Usagi mused.  

There wasn't anyone in the living-type room she had entered into, so no one knew she there yet.  Perfect.  Usagi loved surprises.

**Well, Usagi catches up with the Gundam Pilots.  What fun!  Or, not.  Anyways, about the voting for couples thing, if you really want to, go ahead.  If enough people vote, then I'll try and incorporate them in, but if not, I won't.**

**12/8/02 – 15:02**


	5. Un seul chose qui me plait

**The cruelest dream, reality.******

**Chapter 5:**

            "What are you working on, Duo-chan?" Usagi asked sweetly, standing directly behind him.  As far as she could tell, only the braided one and Wufei were currently in their dorm, both working on homework.  The books spread in front of the two were thick, and none that she recognized.  Of course, the many years since she had gone to school had changed much of the curriculum.  Though she had moved around a bit, so she had studied at some schools, such as the one were she had seen Duo.  But she hadn't been paying much attention, mostly just drifting.

            "Oh, some research on the legendary sailor senshi," he muttered, now reading on of the texts.  He was whining, but he'd survived Wufei's wrath before.  He paused, however, when he realized that the person speaking to him wasn't Wufei.  Or even male.  "What the-" he looked up to see the face of Usagi staring at him.  "Shit!" he swore, leaping up out of his seat, drawing his gun and pointing it at her.

            "Don't you know its rude to point at people?" Usagi said lightly, grinning at the pilot.  "I think it should be me who is upset.  You all shipped out on me without telling, and that is the utmost of rudeness.  I expected better from representatives of the colonies."

            "How did-"  Duo stopped talking, knowing he would only babble if he tried to say anything coherent.

            "What the hell are you talking about, woman?" a harsh voice demanded from her, coming from behind her.  Usagi turned around to see a pissed off Wufei, also pointing a gun at her.  She wondered how he got behind her without her noticing.  _Trigger happy, trigger happy…_ kept running through her mind.  "You know too much.  There is no guarantee that you will not sell us and the gundams to Oz."

            "Pft," she said waving her hand, as if dismissing the idea.  "Why should I care about Oz?  Or about the gundams?  If you all manage to blow up your planet, then there are other planets, other solar systems for me to go to."  Actually that was a lie.  She knew she would care if they destroyed Earth, if only because she had so many memories here.

            Wufei continued to glare at her.  "Then why do you follow us?"

            Usagi shrugged.  "I felt like it.  You are the most interesting thing happening right about now, you know."  She guessed that they wouldn't believe her, but what did she care?  She was almost getting bored with life.  She wanted to do something, maybe save to world again?  Though even that was losing its appeal.  

            She would leave that to these five pretty boys.  If she didn't know that there was no room in her heart for anyone but the deceased Prince of Earth, she would have been drooling over these five.  Even with the ridiculous age difference, they were tempting, to say the least.

            But back to saving the world.  Every time this happened, Usagi prayed that man kind would save its own ass.  But nearly every time, she ended up getting involved anyway.

Her eyes shifted past Wufei, staring at a random spot on the wall, completely ignoring the two boys.  She could remember every single battle, every single human life lost, but rare was it that she remembered past enemies.  It was as if, in the grand scheme of things, it was more important for her to remember those lost then those fought.  She could, for instance, still recall every single one of her mother's people lost on the moon, in an age long past, but she couldn't remember the name of the "ultimate evil" that had killed her lover in that same battle.

Usagi also knew that she had died at total of eighteen times, before she had taken the mantle of Sailor Cosmos.  Her friends, however, had each died hundreds and thousands of times more then her.  There was only one Sailor Cosmos, after all.

She wasn't sure if she would ever understand the mechanics behind senshi.  One would live forever, but still there were others, who would not but played a role as well.  The birth of a senshi was never known ahead of time, and some were reincarnated while others never came back.  She sighed, shaking her head, and pulled out a chair from Duo's table.  Usagi slumped down, her eyes refocusing on the twin gun barrels facing her.

The silver-haired girl sighed again.  "Will you get over it?" she hissed, exasperated.  _Times like this I wish men remember magic._

            "Don't move."  A third voice was now threatening her.  She knew these men were slightly off their rockers, but even so, she couldn't understand the obsession with death.  Perhaps they were related to Hotaru-chan.  She ignored him and turned towards the door, seeing the other two had returned as well, from wherever it was they had gone.  

_It is probably related to this 'Operation Meteor' that is often on their minds, _she mused.  Unfortunately, she wasn't good enough at reading much deeper then surface thoughts, nothing like Rei-chan's awe inspiring abilities.  In any case, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what lay deep in the minds of these assassins.  She had lived through much, but somehow she got the impression that those chosen for a task such as piloting a Gundam wouldn't have had the most pleasant of backgrounds.

            The blonde pilot, Quatra, was confused, she could tell.  He had enetered the room with Trowa Barton, slightly behind Hiiro, to find his team members all ready to shoot the girl from their past house.  His heart wanted to stop this, but his head knew very well the risks that this girl brought with her.

            Usagi heard that, and wanted to snarl.

            But the last pilot, oh ho, he was a mystery.  If she didn't know any better, Usagi would have thought that Trowa Barton didn't think at all.  She could not hear a single thought from him.  A mystery indeed.  But his eyes were trained on her, clearly watching and waiting.  He would support his fellow pilots, no doubt.

            Oh, how she could easily hate mankind.

            _But I can't.  I can't hate.  It's a requirement for job, yanno._  She wanted to scream, her emotions were so thoroughly twisted by these young men.  _Hate, hate, hate._

She was about to take the offending guns away from the young men when Hiiro spoke up.

            "I will kill you."  He delivered his favoured phrase in a complete monotone, something she had noted he used quite often.

            Something snapped in her.  She was Sailor Cosmos!  "Look," she snarled, leaping up and including all five of the men in her tirade.  "I can do whatever the hell I please.  I have no intention of selling you to Oz, or whatever other factions will rise up.  You can either let me stay around a while until I tire of you, or I can make your life hell.  It's rather amusing.  And don't bother shooting me again.  You will only be wasting your ammunition.  I don't like death-obsessed individuals," she muttered the last under breath.  Finished, she huffed slightly, looking like a little child who had thrown a temper tantrum and believed to be in the right.  Her anger seemed completely gone.

            Receiving five blank stares, she grinned.  Her rapid mood changes were believed to be caused by insanity, or so her best friend Rei had so often teased.  _Insanity almost sounds fun.  Wish I may, wish I might,_ she giggled to herself.  She giggled again, this time out loud.  "I'll let you think about it.  Ja ne!" she said in Japanese, having switched back and forth from English through various times.  She disappeared, but somehow Hiiro was left with a feeling that she truly would be back.

            "I have changed," a small woman whispered to herself.  She was seated precariously on the edge of a dock, her feet dangling in an unnamed sea.  She hadn't even known she could change.  She had thought the shift of perspective had been permanent, that time not-so-long ago that everyone she loved had disappeared, like Ami's mists.  Like they had all slipped through her finger...

            Usagi stared at her hands.  They were pale, flawless, never showing the scars that should covered them completely.  She crossed her arms, and let her hands rest on her shoulders.  She shifted her gaze to the water before her.  Had it been but a few months before, she would have immediately linked the blue water to Michiru-san.  And now, she was thinking about something else entirely.

            She shivered, but not from the cool sea breeze.  A few months ago she had not yet met the five young men that now served as her only tie to this world.  Her anger had been so great.  She had raged.  She had wanted to hate mankind.  She had thrown the jewel that gave her life, that nourished her, and so filled her.  It was as if grief had changed her utterly.

            And now, she felt almost normal.  She no longer felt as if her soul had been ripped into pieces and roughly sewn back together.  The pieces of soul had settled, leaving her more the she had been.  She missed her friends terribly, but somehow, the arrival of the five pretty boys in her life had banished her anger.

            _How intriguing._

            How right the poor 01 pilot was.  Usagi showed up at various times, random and with no regard to where or when.  She appeared to live to torment them, Hiiro especially.  It seemed that something about the five pilots was irresistible to her and her now-apparent sense of humour, as twisted as it was.  She followed them occasionally, or helped them with homework, or stole their guns if she felt like it.  It seemed she did these things at random, just to get a rise out of them.  

She was like a sprite, Quatra thought.  Always flitting about, but not a true dweller of this world. 

Usagi giggled again when she picked up that thought.

            However, the moment the pilots left the Earth, Usagi seemed to disappear.  They saw nothing of her while they were fighting Oz in space, or on a colony.

            That all changed with the introduction of the Zero System.

**---**

**I realize it has been a long time since I updated.  Just be thankful this is even here.  I have pretty much stopped writing fanfiction, as I am concentrating on things such as my original stories, school, and life in general.  Thanks a bunch for the reviews, and if I have time and/or enough interest, I'll finish this thing.  **

**I have noticed a change in Usagi's attitude from the first chapters.  Has anyone else noticed that?  I figure it's because the more I write her, the more defined she becomes to me, and so the more her personality will settle.  She is flighty right now, but that is intentional.**

**And yes, Just as things seemed to be making sense, the rest of the plot is introduced.**

**Bai**** bai!**


End file.
